


It's not what it looks like

by Smile_Edgeworth



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Antonio doesn't, Buddies, Drinking & Talking, Fellas is it gay to have 200 pics of Bunny on your phone, Gen, Implied inappropriate activities in the locker room, M/M, Nathan knows, Oblivious Kaburagi T. Kotetsu, Post-The Rising, Sexuality Crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29808210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smile_Edgeworth/pseuds/Smile_Edgeworth
Summary: Antonio thinks Kotetsu is straight. Kotetsu also thinks he's straight.Antonio and Kotetsu talk about Barnaby, and Kotetsu might or might not have an epiphany.
Relationships: Barnaby "Bunny" Brooks Jr./Kaburagi T. Kotetsu, Kaburagi T. Kotetsu & Antonio Lopez
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	It's not what it looks like

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Here I am with another Tiger & Bunny fic!
> 
> This time I was also inspired by some extra content (like the short "Side Tiger" and the [characters' profiles](https://privatter.net/p/311049)), but the story should be clear even if you're not familiar with them.
> 
> Note: there are spoilers from the movie "The Rising", so be careful if you haven't watched it.
> 
> I hope you'll like this story! ^_^

It was during an average evening at the pub that something finally clicked in Antonio’s head.

He was glad to have his best friend back to the First League. He was also glad to hang out with him and drink whiskey together.

Kotetsu looked happy too. Sitting next to him at the pub counter, he was talking about his daughter, how good she was at writing poems and at ice skating. “She won a medal too! Let me show you!” Kotetsu picked up his smartphone and scrolled through his gallery. “Hmm, I’m sure it’s here somewhere.”

Too lazy to lean closer, Antonio peeked at his friend’s phone without moving. That’s when something unusual caught his eyes. As he expected, Kotetsu was not the kind of person who had separate folders for every kind of photo; Antonio was sure that his gallery was a complete mess. “What’s with that blonde woman?” he asked, glimpsing the tiny previews of dozens of photos Kotetsu was scrolling through. “Still into that actress you saw in your dreams?”

“Huh? What actress?” Kotetsu lifted his head from his phone, his expression confused. “Oh, you meant the one in my magazines? Nah, they’re not pictures of her.” He chuckled. “It’s just Bunny!” He clicked on the screen and moved it in front of his friend’s face. “Here he was trying to eat ice cream without dropping it on his pants. It’s hilarious, isn’t it?”

Maybe Kotetsu was already tipsy – even if they had just started drinking – because Antonio couldn’t find anything funny in that photo. He leaned closer in an attempt to figure out what was so amusing, but all he could see was a good-looking young man eating ice cream. Antonio raised an eyebrow. Sure, his best friend had an awful sense of humor, and he definitely had a habit of taking dumb pictures. But this time, no matter how much he tried, Antonio didn’t understand what Kotetsu was thinking.

“This one too, look!” Ignoring his friend’s lack of response, Kotetsu showed him another photo.

There Antonio could see something a little funny: Barnaby Brooks Jr. was eating a pickle, and his usually unfazed face looked very disgusted.

“He hates pickles!” Kotetsu was laughing again. “I asked him if he could try one for me, and that’s what happened! He said _‘never again’_ with such a serious face! Oh, lemme show you another one.”

The third photo Kotetsu placed in front of his eyes almost left Antonio speechless. To be completely honest, Antonio had to admit that Barnaby was a handsome man. And in that close shot of his face with the city in the night in the background, he looked indeed great. _Nathan would_ _approve for sure_ , he thought. It was nothing professional, it looked like it was taken with Kotetsu’s phone like the rest of them; but the lighting was good, and there was an intimate atmosphere he couldn’t explain.

“I caught him by surprise,” Kotetsu said, grinning. “Funny, isn’t it?”

“What the hell, Kotetsu.” Antonio frowned. “How many pictures of Barnaby do you have?”

Kotetsu put his finger on the side of his cheek. “Um, I dunno… maybe two hundred?”

“ _Two hundred?!_ ” Antonio roared. He looked around, noticing the other people in the pub glaring at him. He made an apologetic face before focusing on his friend again, his voice lower. “Why do you have two hundred pictures of a guy in your phone?”

This time, it was Kotetsu who frowned. “What do you mean _a guy_? Bunny’s my partner!”

“Could it be…” He knew he was jumping to conclusions, but something didn’t seem quite right. “Could it be Nathan was right about you two? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Huh? What about Fire Emblem? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Antonio hit the counter with his fist. “Hey, don’t play dumb now! I’m your best friend, you know I’m not gonna judge you. I don’t care if you’re into men, just tell me the truth.”

“Wait, huh?!” Kotetsu’s eyes widened. “Antonio, what do you mean? I don’t know why, but I think you’re really getting the wrong idea here. I had a wife, remember?” He lifted his left hand, his wedding ring still at his place. “I’m sorry, but I’m straight. I don’t know what made you think otherwise, honestly.”

“Honestly,” Antonio repeated, not sure what else to say. He took a deep breath. “Fine, fine. Listen, Kotetsu, we’ve been buddies since high school and I believe you, you ain’t gay or bi or anything different from straight. That’s why I’ve always ignored whatever nonsense Nathan blabbered about like _‘they don’t need their Hundred Power, they could catch criminals with the_ _flames_ _of their sexual tension’_ or something–”

“What?”

“Never mind that!” Antonio hit the counter again. “What I mean is I trust you when you say you’re only into women. It’s just that you’re not the typical man and you have your own ways to show affection, right? But that doesn’t mean other people can’t take it the wrong way, you know? Barnaby included.”

“The wrong way?”

“Yeah.” Antonio tried to relax, taking a sip from his glass. “Does your partner know you have two hundred pictures of him on your phone?”

Kotetsu rubbed his beard with his fingers. “Well, I guess so? I don’t know if he counted them, but I’m not keeping it a secret from him, if it’s what you wanted to know. He sees me when I take a picture.”

“And he just lets you do it.”

“Yeah? He never looks too happy, but I know he doesn’t mind. I don’t share them with anyone, so it’s fine.”

“But you realize that it’s kinda weird, right? What would you think if I had two hundred pictures of the same man in my phone?”

Kotetsu drank his whiskey, lost in thoughts. “I dunno, maybe you want to be like him? Like me with all Mr. Legend’s videos.”

Antonio groaned. “Jeez, you’re not getting it. I’m not talking about some celebrity! Well then, what would you think if I had two hundred pictures of _you_ in my phone? Not as a hero, you in your civilian clothes.”

“Huh? You have two hundred pictures of me?!”

“Of course not, that’s the whole point, you idiot!” He squeezed his glass. “Your phone is full of pictures of Barnaby, of course people are gonna assume stuff. And you still haven’t stopped calling him that nickname.”

“What? You mean _Bunny_?” Kotetsu’s eyes opened wide. “Why should I stop now that he doesn’t complain anymore?”

“‘Cause I know it started as a joke to make fun of him, and honestly the old Barnaby deserved it, but it’s been, how long? Almost three years? It’s gotten kind of weird.”

Kotetsu frowned. “Weird? Why would you say that?”

“I dunno, bud, imagine to see two adult men next to each other, and one of them calls the other _Lil’ Bunny_. What would you think of them?”

“Oh.” Kotetsu turned his head, his eyes now staring at his glass. “Oh,” he repeated. For the first time that evening, he looked at a loss of words. “W-Well, that’s a little… yeah, I guess. Out of context it does sound gay. But when I say it, everyone knows it’s not what I mean, so–”

“How can you be so sure?” Antonio asked. “You call him _Bunny_ everywhere, in private and in public, even in the official interviews. You think all people can read your fucking mind? And what about Barnaby? Are you certain he knows what you mean?”

“What? Of course he does! Bunny…” He stopped, his mouth open. “Shit.”

“See? You’re not sure!”

“Wait, wait. You don’t think he assumes I’m flirting with him, right?”

Antonio shrugged. “I can’t tell, to be honest. You know him better than me. But one thing I’m sure about: you gotta figure out why he lets you do all of that. I mean, you’d think a man in his place would ask you to stop immediately, ‘cause it’s awkward, right? But now that I think about it, this is the same guy who loves carrying you like a princess all the time, so…”

“Hey, it’s not _all the time_!” Kotetsu interrupted. “It only happened a few times!”

“Sure, whatever. Anyway, you two are into that kind of thing.”

“We’re not…! I don’t like being carried like that!”

“Yeah, and I’m a vegetarian.” Antonio sighed. “Kotetsu, shut up. I’m not gonna judge you, sometimes a lonely straight guy might want his male work partner to carry him, I guess. I don’t really get it, but it’s fine. What I’m trying to say is that you should ask him how he feels about it.”

Kotetsu didn’t reply quickly. He stared again at his empty glass, a hand on his forehead. His expression looked troubled. “It can’t be,” he murmured. “Even if Bunny liked guys, there’s no way he’d find an old man like me attractive.”

Antonio sighed. “You really are that dense, are you? Open your eyes, Kotetsu. Sometimes young people find older people hot.” He thought about Blue Rose, who was still in high school when her crush on Kotetsu became obvious to everyone… Well, everyone but Kotetsu himself, apparently. “And you ain’t actually old. Jeez, we’re old as heroes, not as men. We still have time to find a woman!” He hoped so, even if he hated talking about himself.

“I already had one. And I have a daughter. Come on, Bunny wouldn’t…” Kotetsu traced the top of his glass with his finger. “He knows me, so he’s just nice. That’s all.”

“Kotetsu.” Antonio spoke in a serious tone. “You and Barnaby already had enough misunderstandings, right? Maybe you shouldn’t add this one.”

Kotetsu swallowed. “Y-Yeah.” The break-up of their partnership was still a recent wound, after all. “What should I do?” He added in a whisper, speaking to himself.

Antonio knew his friend wasn’t the kind of person who asked for advice, and he knew how frustrating trying to help him could get. _All right, now you’re gonna listen to me, whether you like it or not._ “Just tell him the truth, Kotetsu. Tell him that you care about him as his partner, and you’re sorry sometimes it looks like you’re doing something ambiguous, but you’re not attracted to him so you wouldn’t make out with him or anything.” Antonio placed a hand on his chin, staring at the drinks in front of him to focus better on what to say. “Hm, that sounded kinda weird, but I’m too tipsy to think about a better way to say it. Just tell him you ain’t into men, bud. I know it’ll break his heart if he wanted to get into your pants, but Barnaby is a grown-up man, he’ll deal with it.” He turned to look at his friend again, only to find out that his seat was empty. “Hey, wait!”

He turned, trying to catch his friend’s sight.

Kotetsu was running away from the pub. “Sorry, Antonio! I need to go!”

Antonio groaned. _Fine, fine_ , he thought. Then he saw the drink his friend left on the counter and his eyes widened. “What the hell, who’s gonna pay for this?!”

~🐯🐰~

The following day, Antonio entered the gym in a bad mood. He hadn’t heard anything from Kotetsu after last night, and even if he knew his friend had probably gone to talk to Barnaby, he didn’t like to be left by himself in the pub, especially after talking about romance. It was a rather depressing subject for him, and he didn’t wish to think about it more than it was necessary.

It was early in the morning, and Antonio didn’t see anyone training. At first, he thought it was odd, but he supposed someone had the morning off, and other heroes – more popular than him – were probably busy with interviews or whatever else they had to do when they were considered celebrities.

He sighed, walking towards the locker room. The door was closed, but he could hear Kotetsu’s unmistakable laugh coming from inside.

_What? He’s up early for once?_ That was unexpected, especially after drinking together the previous night. Antonio punched his own palm with his other hand. _Well, at least I can have my money back!_

As he approached the door, he couldn’t hear his friend’s voice anymore. Nothing to worry about, maybe he was getting ready for his training, he thought. Feeling confident, Antonio burst into the room. “Hey, Kotetsu, you owe me 20 buc–” He stopped, his mouth full open. His brain went blank. “What the hell?!”

There were two people in front of him.

Two people who were very much _attached_ to each other until a second ago.

The first one stared back at Antonio with wide amber eyes, frozen like a criminal captured by Blue Rose.

The second one was trying to fix his glasses with both hands, looking very much like someone who wished to disappear in that instant.

“Um…” Kotetsu forced a smile. “Hi, Antonio. Didn’t expect you here.”

“Yeah, I bet you didn’t.” Antonio clenched his fists. “What the hell, Kotetsu!” He said louder. “You gotta explain now!”

Kotetsu rubbed the back of his head. “Er, so you saw us…”

“Yes, I saw you.”

“Ah, th-that’s fine, really! We were just sparring!”

“Sparring with your tongues?!”

“Kotetsu, please.” At least, Barnaby had the decency not to follow whatever nonsense his partner was blurting out.

_Glad to see someone doesn’t think I’m a complete idiot._ For a moment, Antonio felt a little bad for the young man, but not enough to speak up about it. “This is ridiculous! You!” He pointed at Kotetsu. “You were straight last night!”

“Well…”

“I’m rather sure he wasn’t,” Barnaby said, pushing his glasses up with a finger. “Not when he visited my place.”

_Jeez, I don’t really wanna know anything more._

“Heh, I guess…” Kotetsu smiled at Antonio. “Honestly, I have to thank you for this, Antonio. Your words yesterday awakened something in me.”

Antonio raised an eyebrow. “Huh? I was tipsy, I’m not even sure what I said.”

“Well, among the other things, you said I had to tell Bunny that I wouldn’t like to make out with him. And that’s when I thought: _‘But I’d actually like to’_.”

Barnaby looked embarrassed again, which was a pretty rare sight. His cheeks were red.

“I can’t believe it.” Antonio groaned. “So everything we said last night was bullshit? The reason you have so many pictures of him, the reason you keep calling him _Lil’ Bunny_ , the princess carry…”

Kotetsu avoided his friend’s eyes. “Sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Man… You’ve always been dense about this kind of stuff, so I shouldn’t be surprised. But now I feel like an idiot too for not figuring it out.”

“You’re not an idiot,” Barnaby said. He glanced at his partner, then he looked at Antonio again, a smile on his face. “I also had no idea Kotetsu was attracted to men. Otherwise, perhaps I would have tried to be more open about my feelings.”

_I see. Well, at least now I know why Barnaby was fine with Kotetsu’s weird habits._

“Sorry, Bunny.” Kotetsu rubbed the side of his cheek with a finger. “This old man can be a little slow.”

“Don’t tell me things I already know.”

“Hey! For a rabbit, you’re not cute at all!”

Despite their words, the way the two partners were looking at each other made Antonio feel like he shouldn’t have been there… except that they were in the heroes’ locker room, so of course there was nothing wrong with his presence.

Antonio cleared his throat, catching their attention. “So, you two… Are you serious about this?”

“Yes,” Barnaby said.

Kotetsu nodded. “You know I’m pretty old-fashioned when it comes to romance, so I wouldn’t kiss someone if I wasn’t serious. Especially not Bunny.”

Antonio stepped closer. “Yeah, you’ve always been like that. Well then…” He placed a hand on Kotetsu’s shoulder and the other on Barnaby’s. “Congratulations. Really, I mean it. You two deserve to be happy. Be good to each other, okay?”

Kotetsu grinned. “Thank you. We will.”

“And you.” Antonio removed his hand from Kotetsu to point at Barnaby. “You’re dating my best friend, okay? So listen up: break his heart, and I’ll break your face.”

Kotetsu gasped. “Hey, now, there’s no need to say that!”

“It’s fine, Kotetsu.” Barnaby smiled. “I know you would, Bison. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Antonio moved back. Deep down, he knew Barnaby was a good guy, but he wasn’t going to say it out loud.

“Oh, right.” Kotetsu put his hand in his pocket. He pulled out 20 sterndollars. “Here. Sorry for the trouble yesterday.”

Antonio stared at the money for a moment, not moving. “It’s fine, I don’t want it.”

“But–”

“I said it’s fine! Consider last night’s drink my treat.” He smirked. “Besides, I don’t wanna take anything from your hands right now, ‘cause I don’t know where they were before I opened the door.”

This made _both_ Kotetsu and Barnaby start, their faces flushing.

“Wha…? I-I wasn’t…!” Kotetsu tried to mumble something, but he soon gave up. “Give me a break, man!”

_Oh, come on, teasing these dumb lovebirds is going to be too easy._

“Actually, Rock Bison, there’s something we’d like to ask you.” Barnaby pushed his glasses up with his fingers again, probably to hide his embarrassment. It wasn’t really working. “For now, could you keep everything about our relationship to yourself? I know it’s a lot to ask, and of course we’re planning to tell the other heroes. But we need more time. We don’t know how everyone is going to react, especially Blue Rose…”

Antonio crossed his arms. “Fine, I get it.”

“Huh?” Kotetsu raised an eyebrow. “What about Blue Rose?”

Barnaby sighed, placing his hand on his partner’s shoulder. This time, Antonio actually felt bad for him. “Don’t worry about it.” He looked at Antonio again. “So, you don’t mind keeping a secret?”

The other shrugged. “I won’t say anything, but I can’t promise they won’t figure it out anyway. I mean, if you do certain things here…”

“I-It won’t happen again,” Barnaby said. “Thank you for understanding, Rock Bison.”

“Don’t mention it.” Antonio crossed his arms. “But really, good luck keeping it from Fire Emblem. I’m pretty sure it’s too late for that.” _Man, I hate that Nathan was right all along, and I wasn’t. This is bad for my pride!_

Kotetsu blinked. “Too late? What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly what I said. I think Nathan knew before everyone else, you included.”

“I knew what?” A gentle voice spoke behind them.

_Shit._

The very person they were talking about entered the locker room with a smile. “What’s with those faces?” Nathan asked. “Bison, are you all right? You look like you just caught Handsome and Tiger making out here.”

Suddenly, everything froze.

Nobody said anything.

Nobody moved.

The three men who were talking just a moment ago stood in awkward silence, Fire Emblem studying their expression and everything around them.

“Handsome and Tiger?!”

Hearing those words, Antonio knew. Nathan didn’t need to ask anything else, as always.

“Oh my! Finally!”

_And that’s it_ , Antonio thought. And despite his broken pride, he couldn’t help but smiling. _This is the end of your ‘secret’, Kotetsu._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments are always appreciated!
> 
> If you'd like to interact more with me, feel free to follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/EdgeworthSmile) ^_^


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